This invention relates generally to communication systems, more particularly, to transaction processing systems.
Communications systems with customer contact centers are known. Such systems are typically used as a means of distributing customer contacts, such as telephone calls, among a group of agents of an organization. As customer contacts are directed to the organization from a communications network, such as a public switch telephone network (PSTN), the communications system directs the customer contacts to its agents based upon some algorithm. For example, a communications system such as an automatic call distributor (ACD), a private branch exchange (PBX), or a central office exchange service (Centrex) may recognize a call target based upon an identity of an incoming trunk line and route the call accordingly.
Businesses, service organizations, and other entities may use customer contact centers to handle the daily influx of telephone calls, email messages and voice mail contacts for marketing, sales, product support, and other customer service functions. Agents of the communications system may provide product support, take sales orders, and handle inquiries. In essence, the agents provide the wide array of services that the companies that use them require. Thus, the effectiveness and efficiency of a communications system may depend on the performance of the agents.
However, the present format is limited. Currently, an unlimited number of customer contacts may be delivered to any one agent. For example, an agent may be handling a telephone call and simultaneously “chatting” with an Internet customer. In such a situation, the agent may not be able to handle another customer contact, however, another customer contact may be sent to the agent. Sending too many customer contacts to any one agent may degrade the quality and effectiveness of the communications system. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for routing transaction types.